For some, it’s the typographical equivalent of pineapple on a pizza, and this weekend, Ryan Gosling championed the cause on Saturday Night Live, decrying the use of Microsoft Office’s second most-hated font in Avatar 2’s title design.
The offending font, designed by Chris Costello, takes its inspiration from the Bible, but even design sites for churches hate it. Brady Shearer of Pro Church Tools had this to say about a WordPress designer using Papyrus for one of its Church Themes:“Kriesi is a professional website designer and he knows what’s good and what’s bad. So why did he use Papyrus for a church theme? Because the church and Papyrus have somehow become linked with one another. This problem is no longer internal.”
For those interested in further calling out Papyrus non-proliferation, consider this blog your Font Offender Registry. Open for debate, however, is the question of whether Papyrus truly is worse than Comic Sans, the ridiculously childish font chosen by Cleveland Cavs owner Don Gilbert for his rant at LeBron James. Sadistic designers needn’t decide—an ungodly mashup of the two fonts can be purchased for a mere $50 here.
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Rachel Starnes is the author of The War at Home: A Wife's Search for Peace (and Other Missions Impossible) (Penguin Books, 2016). She received her MFA in Creative Nonfiction from California State University, Fresno and her BA from the University of Texas. Her essays have appeared in The Colorado Review, Front Porch Journal, and O Magazine. Born in Austin, Texas, she has lived in Scotland, Texas, Saudi Arabia, Florida, California, and Nevada, and is currently at work on a novel. More at rachelstarnes.com
